Knowing that we are finite, how can we live to the fullest? Philosopher George Santayana suggested 'spirituality' enables us to enjoy what we have. This book clarifies and extends Santayana's account of spirituality, while suggesting how the detachment of spirituality can relieve human suffering, enrich our lives, and make us better human beings.

At first glance, Samuel Beckett's writing - where scenes of violence and cruelty often provide the occasion for an unremittingly bleak comedy - would seem to offer the reader few examples of "ethical" conduct. However, following the recent "ethical turn" in critical theory, there has been growing interest in the "ethicality" of Becketta??s work. Following Alain Badiou's highly influential claim for Beckett as essentially an ethical thinker, it is time to ask: What is the relation between Beckett's work and the ethical? Is Beckett's work profoundly ethical in its implications, as both humanist and deconstructionist readings have insisted in their different ways? Or does Beckett's work in some way call into question the entire notion of the ethical? This provocative collection of essays seeks to map out this emerging debate in Beckett criticism. It will be a landmark contribution to an exciting new field, not only in Beckett Studies, but in literary studies and critical theory more broadly.

This is the first edited collection to bring together classic pieces and new work by leading scholars of Thomas Reid. The contributors explore key elements of Reid's moral theory in an organised and thematic way, offering a balanced and broad ranging volume.

In this fresh evaluation of Western ethics, noted philosopher Richard Taylor argues that philosophy must return to the classical notion of virtue as the basis of ethics. To ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, ethics was chiefly the study of how individuals attain personal excellence, or ovirtue, o defined as intellectual sophistication, wisdom, strength of character, and creativity. With the ascendancy of the Judeo-Christian ethic, says Taylor, this emphasis on pride of personal worth was lost. Instead, philosophy became preoccupied with defining right and wrong in terms of a divine lawgiver, and the concept of virtue was debased to mean mere obedience to divine law. Even today, in the absence of religious belief, modern thinkers unwittingly continue this legacy by creating hairsplitting definitions of good and evil.
Taylor points out that the ancients rightly understood the ultimate concern of ethics to be the search for happiness, a concept that seems to have eluded contemporary society despite unprecedented prosperity and convenience. Extolling AristotleAEs Nicomachean Ethics, Taylor urges us to reread this brilliant and still relevant treatise, especially its emphasis on an ethic of aspiration.

The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fishing; Social Science / Sociology / Rural; Sports

Why do people do evil? How can we learn to do better? Philosophers in the long-standing tradition of 'virtue ethics' argue that we act badly because of shortcomings in our character, and that we can improve by practicing virtues such as courage, honesty, and compassion. Recently, philosophical 'situationists' have issued a profound challenge to this tradition: they argue that anyone can act badly if placed in a sufficiently tempting situation, and that the goal of cultivating good character is misguided and may even be harmful. Rather than encouraging us to pursue the ideal of virtue, these philosophers propose that ethics should instead begin by recognizing the profound limits of human self-knowledge and self-control. This book critically examines the arguments and evidence on each side of this debate, with a special focus on the connections between the philosophical issues and current research in social and personality psychology. Character also includes guides to further reading that will help students deepen their understanding of this essential topic in contemporary ethics.

A growing body of academic and business specialists are paying attention to ethical issues in business and economics, drawing on a wide range of different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. This volume presents important new insights from scholars in economics, philosophy, business ethics and management studies. In addition to providing specific perspectives on particular topics, it presents strategic perspectives on the development of the field. Readers can inform themselves on developments in particular areas, such as social accountability or stakeholder governance; they will also find substantial contributions related to the interfaces of ethics and economics, economics and philosophy, business ethics and political science, and business ethics and management. The collection is a thought-provoking contribution to the development of business and economic ethics as an increasingly important field of academic study.

The debate about the existence of climate change seems finally at an end. We now have to decide what to do about it. Here, James Garvey argues that the ultimate rationale for action on climate change cannot be simply economic, political, scientific or social, though no doubt our decisions should be informed by such things. Instead, climate change is largely a moral problem. What we should do about it depends on what matters to us and what we think is right. This book is an introduction to the ethics of climate change. It considers a little climate science and a lot of moral philosophy, ultimately finding a way into the many possible positions associated with climate change. It is also a call for action, for doing something about the moral demands placed on both governments and individuals by the fact of climate change. This is a book about choices, responsibility, and where the moral weight falls on our warming world. Articulate, provocative and stimulating, this timely book will make a significant contribution to one of the most important debates of our time .

eproductive rights refers to a range of claims concerning whether, when and how to have children. Beneath this clear statement lays the most contentious political, legal, and cultural issue in America today. Involving the self, the family, and the State, women's reproductive rights generates much impassioned argument but painfully little agreement. Topics and authors take on diverse and often clashing positions, highlighting this issue's complex and highly charged nature. Arranged alphabetically by topic, articles representing racial and ethnic groups' experiences figure prominently, as do the effects of age, class, education, health, religion, and sexual preference on childbearing and -rearing practices, in and out of wedlock. It also includes articles on laws, court cases, political attitudes, prominent activists, and technological advances as they relate to reproductive rights. Entries are written by highly regarded scholars, are cross-referenced, and conclude with suggested further readings.

Designed to introduce and inform the reader to this extremely difficult topic, Baer's ecumenical approach exposes us to a variety of opinions from support for current abortion policies to the building movement for fetal rights. Only reasoned opinions supported by hard evidence are included, and no attempt was made to mute the often incommensurable opinions expressed within. This book will be a valuable resources for students, scholars, and any person interested in learning about the multiplicity of perspectives on this important issue that is at the heart of our current culture wars.

Violence holds considerable philosophical interest, especially today, and yet this concept has not been given sufficient attention by contemporary philosophers. This is the first anthology of philosophical essays on the nature and justifiability of violence. The essays in this volume, taken from the last 100 years, explore a range of philosophical issues pertaining to violence. Three basic questions are scrutinized: 'What is violence?', 'Is violence always wrong?', and 'Can violence be justified?'. Students and Philosophers in political and moral philosophy, but also political theorists, political scientists, and political sociologists, will find this an important and valuable contribution.

Phil Hutchinson engages with philosophers of emotion in both the analytic and continental traditions. He advances a framework for understanding emotion - world-taking cognitivism and argues that reductionist accounts of emotion leave us in a state of poverty regarding our understanding of the world and ourselves.

When this seminal collection of essays was first published in 1978, the philosophical 'problem' of obligations to fixture generations was not widely recognised. But as the contributors point out, the theories that have constituted the stock-in-trade of moral philosophers for the past two hundred years often produce weird and counter-intuitive results when they are extended to try to include those who are as yet unborn. Utilitarianism can appear to recommend practically unlimited population increase, with quantity of life taking precedence over quality; theories based on a social contract present difficulties involving reciprocity - we can affect the lives of future people while they apparently cannot affect ours; while the idea of rights seems difficult to apply to those whose future existence may depend on our present choice of action - do 'potential' people have a 'right' to be born? On its original publication, the journal Ethics devoted 30 pages to a review of Obligations to Future Generations, and the book is still frequently and extensively cited and discussed. The philosophical questions raised here centre around 'whether and to what degree it can be morally incumbent on us to make sacrifices to bring happy people into the world or to avoid preventing them being brought into the world'. The implications surrounding this central question are becoming ever more urgent in the light of increasing concerns over dwindling resources, population growth, globalisation and environmental risk. This collection is essential reading for students of ethics and social policy, and for anyone concerned with the relation between the present choices and future chances of humanity.

Addressing the perennial question: why should we be moral? this book argues that we can only give a truly and morally satisfying answer to that question by radically reconfiguring our conception of the self and the way it relates to others.

The end of the Cold War and the onset of globalization have brought the study of international politics face-to-face with issues such as human rights, humanitarian interventions, environmental concerns, global social movements, and health issues such as HIV/AIDS. The contributors to this volume re-examine existing approaches and formulate new ethical perspectives for the 21st Century. This volume challenges the status quo in international relations and provides an opening for an alternative theoretical debate for those who are interested in international political theory.

Pollution, deforestation, elimination of species, greenhouse gases and depletion of the ozone layer. These results of human activity are, as most people would agree, undesirable. But what is the value of the natural world that would be lost if the environment were destroyed or seriously degraded? This is the central question of environmental ethics and the focus of this book. It argues that to properly understand how and why nature can have value requires a radical revision of the way philosophy is understood and practised, and an equally radical restructuring of the concepts and categories upon which modern philosophy has been based.

The book questions the concept of "the enemy," beginning with Carl Schmitt's famous notion that politics is the relationship of friend and enemy and that humanity is not a political concept. This book deconstructs this notion and views humanity at the center of a type of politics based on ethics.

Biological and philosophical anthropologies of the 20th century keep emphasising the "Sonderstellung" of humans among the realm of living beings. However, it is not clear how this particular role should be characterised, how it should be reconciled with biological findings, and which theoretical and practical conclusions should be drawn from it. Partly in opposition to these anthropological views on humankind biological disciplines underline the extensive similarities and common characteristics between humans and other species. Apparently, these biological findings concur with the criticism of anthropocentrism, which is expressed in Western philosophy of nature and by ethicists. To discuss these issues the Europaische Akademie organized the conference "The Uniqueness of Humankind Uber die Sonderstellung des Menschen." The proceedings of the conference documented in this volume approached the theoretical and practical concept of the "Sonderstellung" against the background of present day knowledge in biosciences. Furthermore, by interdisciplinary efforts, an attempt was made to clarify those conceptual problems that arise with the idea of the uniqueness of humankind. The present volume partly takes up and further develops topics that have been raised by volume 15, On Human Nature, that was published in this series in 2002."

Comparing the liberal Jewish ethics of the German-Jewish philosophers Ernst Cassirer and Hannah Arendt, this book argues that both espoused a diasporic, worldly conception of Jewish identity that was anchored in a pluralist and politically engaged interpretation of Jewish history and an abiding interest in the complex lived reality of modern Jews. Arendt's indebtedness to liberal Jewish thinkers such as Moses Mendelssohn, Abraham Geiger, Hermann Cohen, and Ernst Cassirer has been obscured by her modernist posture and caustic critique of the assimilationism of her German-Jewish forebears. By reorienting our conception of Arendt as a profoundly secular thinker anchored in twentieth century political debates, we are led to rethink the philosophical, political, and ethical legacy of liberal Jewish discourse.

Moral expectation is a concept with which all of us are well acquainted. Already as children we learn that certain courses of action are expected of us. We are expected to perform certain actions, and we are expected to refrain from other actions. Furthermore, we learn that something is morally wrong with the failure to do what we are morally expected to do. A central theme of this book is that moral expectation should not be confused with moral obligation. While we are morally expected to do everything we are obligated to do, a person can be morally expected to do some things that he or she is not morally obligated to do. Although moral expectation is a familiar notion, it has not been the object of investigation in its own right. In the early chapters Mellema attempts to provide a philosophical account of this familiar notion, distinguish it from other types of expectations, and show how it is possible to form false moral expectations. Subsequent chapters explore the role of moral expectation in agreements between people, analyze ways that people avoid moral expectation, illustrate how groups can have moral expectations, and view moral expectation in the context of our relationship with divine beings. The final chapter provides insight into how moral expectation operates in people's professional lives.

Animal suffering constitutes perhaps the greatest challenge to rational belief in the existence of God. Considerations that render human suffering theologically intelligible seem inapplicable to animal suffering. In this book, Dougherty defends radical possibilities for animal afterlife that allow a soul-making theodicy to apply to their case.

This volume is an edited collection of original papers on the theme of "Values, Rational Choice, and the Will." The editor is a Stanford-trained moral philosopher, and the organizer of a conference held on April 1-3, 2004. The conference succeeded in bringing together a wide range of essays that dealt with most of the central questions of moral philosophy today, in both normative ethics and meta-ethics, theoretical and applied ethics, and especially in moral psychology.

This book explores the theoretical basis of our ethical obligations to others as self-knowing beings - this task being envisaged as an essential supplement to a traditional ethic of respect for persons. Authoritative knowledge of others brings with it certain obligations, which are reflected in (inter alia) the moral and legal safeguards designed to ensure that certain information is 'put out of play' for job selection purposes etc. However, the theoretical basis for such obligations has never been fully clarified. This book begins by identifying a distinctive class of 'interpretive' moral wrongs (including stereotyping, discrimination and objectification). It then shows how our obligations in respect of these wrongs can be understood, drawing on insights from the tradition of philosophical reflection on "recognition." The book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the adequacy of a modern ethic of respect for persons - particularly in applied and professional ethics.